Reality Check

Blogger Reality Check is in despair’ as he writes that the current measures by the government towards caste census does not ensure ‘social justice’.

Yet implicit in his stance is the idea that reservations or ‘positive discrimination’ is justified. He writes- “We instantly see Dalits and some Tribes as rightful targets of positive discrimination and some castes like Kshatriyas, Brahmins as those needing to take a hit.”

What is overlooked here is that parentage or even economic status does not necessarily justify or support ‘positive discrimination’.

Point being, a person like Madhu Koda or ‘justice’ Dinakaran or A Raja though from ‘lower caste’ or ‘dalit’, have displayed inclination to misuse their positions to amass wealth. There are many such persons, regardless of caste or economic status, who display inclinations towards selfish aggrandizement. When such people, even coming from poor families, are placed in positions of power, however small or big, through policies of ‘positive discrimination’, the nation or society is injuring itself.

While some people have inclinations towards selfish aggrandizement and have the tendency to misuse the positions they come to occupy, some others have inclinations to allow such people to have their way, to not acknowledge the crimes being committed. These second type of people, themselves fearful of indulging in rapacious corruption like the former, yet enjoy the spoils and crumbs that their positon throws up surreptitiously. These type of people also can be found in every economic strata and ‘caste’ of society, often functioning as useful tools in the hands of the former type.

The idea of using ‘caste’ or economic status as any criteria to obtain ‘social justice’ or ‘societal equality’ is flawed, chimeric and delusional because it in no way provides for preventing the people such as mentioned above from occupying positions of power. In fact, not having such a criteria of ‘caste’ or ‘economic status’ by itself is also not guaranteer of health of society.

Therefore ‘positive discrimination’ should be there. Only to bring in people with strength of character and moral and ethical values, from all strata of society, into all positions in society, high as well as low.

In the absence of this criteria, it does not matter if all positions of power are given to people of a particular ‘caste’ or ‘religion’ or it is left as a free-for-all, because, there is equal chance of good people coming to occupy positions of power in either case. So without reservation you may have an MMS in chair with an A R who steals in percentage of GDP and a saintess of foreign origin deciding who will become President, CEC and everything of import. With reservation you may have a Maya in chair who may or may not match up to AR’s capacity in loot. Either ways, without the correct criteria for choosing people to positions of responsibility, there is only a random chance of the correct thing happening, a very random chance. Such tendencies, towards aggrandizement or passivity in the face of aggrandizement, are not genetically transmitted; neither are abilities, talents and inclinations, nor sense of rightness. These qualities are also not defined by the gender of a person, or by his/her economic condition, people possessing these qualities being found in every economic strata or ‘caste’ of society regardless of gender. Therefore any categorisation based on parentage, ‘caste’, gender, or even economic conditions, is insubstantial and delusionary.

Western influence cause people to forgo considerations of rightness, and instead, to view people in terms of ‘community’, ‘religion’, ‘caste’, ‘economic strata’, ‘gender’, to consider these fabricated labels as real, defining them and others, and to be deluded by the notion that ‘equalising’ these chimeric labels is necessary or even contributory for sustenance of society.

Institutions and systems built upon such western thought and ideas naturally fail to produce the right results, yet, the deluded expect such institutions and systems, and the people appointed in such systems, to deliver justice.

It may be necessary to do reality check on the conceptions of the mind influenced by western thought and the system of indoctrination deceptively called ‘education’.

2 comments

Neither Caste nor religion and not even the economic conditions can determine the backwardness of a person. The real backwardness is when there is a loss of character, which is a result of desire for material wealth and sensory pleasure.
In an ideal society, you will have mature people who will use their voting finger rightly adhering to the criteria quoted below
“Only to bring in people with strength of character and moral and ethical values, from all strata of society, into all positions in society, high as well as low”
If Bharat gets the opportunity in future, we hope to have persons with high standards of moral and ethical values in important positions and slowly the country can be brought back to it’s greater heights.

I agree with you that reservations only retard growth. However, if we have to have reservations, we might as well have them based on economic factors rather than caste factors – wouldn’t you agree?

But I’m confused about what you say here:

“Western influence cause people to forgo considerations of rightness, and instead, to view people in terms of ‘community’, ‘religion’, ‘caste’, ‘economic strata’, ‘gender”

Why do you say this? What prompts you to lay the flaws of caste, community and religion at the feet of westerners? I myself for example, don’t have a religion, don’t subscribe to any community and don’t believe in caste. Yet in Sandeep’s blog you have also labeled me as “Western.”